Wisconsin Foundry Starts Melting Expansion

Willman Industries in Cedar Grove, WI, reports it has started a melting department expansion and expects to complete it by the end of this year. The $3-million project involves extending the foundry’s meting bay and scrap storage areas, and the addition of two 9-ton furnaces. The foundry’s core room will be expanded, too. The project’s goal is to increase the melting department work area by 25%, and melting capacity by 50%. Preheating and scrap drying will be added to the melting operation, and the plant’s large-casting molding area will be increased once the current scrap storage area and furnace charging system are relocated in the new bays. According to Jerry Hendrickson, Willman Industries vice president – sales, the plant expansion and capacity increase anticipates rising demand for castings based on customer’ requests. Willman Industries is a general jobbing foundry that produces sand castings in ductile and austempered iron, and Meehanite. Its products range in size from ounces up to 40,000 lb., and include thin-walled exhaust manifolds, heavy-section hydraulic pumps, valves, housings, flywheels, clutch plates, machine tools, and power generating equipment. Recently, Willman Industries was certified to the ISO 9001:2008 standard. Previously it earned the Meehanite MAC 2000 Quality Award for Excellence.